Another Incident in Death Valley

[ski3pin]

GPS and illegally driving cross country in a National Park.........and almost dying. Darwin?

DVNP News Release

 

[Ted]

My guess would be they were on the West Side Road, which begins and ends on Badwater Road. Wouldn't they be able to see that on their GPS?
I wonder how many years we will be able to see their tracks?

 

[ski3pin]

My guess would be they were on the West Side Road, which begins and ends on Badwater Road. Wouldn't they be able to see that on their GPS?
I wonder how many years we will be able to see their tracks?

From the report - "The park visitors got lost while navigating by GPS. They took a wrong turn onto West Side Road, and drove back and forth on the gravel road for about three hours. Around midnight, they became concerned about running out of gas, and decided to drive directly across the salt flat to Badwater Road. Driving off-road is illegal in Death Valley National Park. In this case, it could have cost their lives."

Although it says, ".......while navigating by GPS," they obviously were not "navigating." Five bucks says it was operator error and not GPS error. Their decision to drive directly across the salt pan to Badwater speaks volumes. I would take the story they told the Park Service with a pallet full of bags of salt.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

He picked a Chevrolet Malibu as his overlanding vehicle of choice. Many bad decisions on the part of the overlander.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Damage like that takes a long time to heal in DV.
Frank

 

[ski3pin]

Damage like that takes a long time to heal in DV.
Frank

Send the fellows out on foot with rakes. A couple of days of careful work and it would look a bit better.

 

[craig333]

I'm betting it was a rental vehicle.

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

Driving at night in unknown territory...never a promising enterprise.

 

[PaulT]

I'm betting it was a rental vehicle.

A coworker (years ago) told me, as he drove over the curb at a customer's location, that all rental cars were four wheel drive.

Prior to that. I thought that buying a used rental car might be a smart idea.

Paul

 

[kmcintyre]

I want to know what the fine, etc. is and that they actually get something substantial and not the standard, $100 fine, 1 week in jail (reduced to 0 for stupidity).

 

[craig333]

At least pay the tow bill. That couldn't have been cheap to get a specialized vehicle out there.